It is not secret that I am big admirer of the late great Man in Black, Mr. Johnny Cash. Heck, I have posted about the man many times over the years. Like many great talents, it never ceases to amaze me how prolific he was. Case in point, more than a decade after his death, we are still being treated to new material that allows us to continue to enjoy his immense legacy. In the recently published Forever Words, we are blessed to read a collection of his poems that have never been seen before and it is as amazing as you hoped it would be.

About Forever Words by Johnny Cash: “A collection of never-before-published poems by Johnny Cash, edited and introduced by Pulitzer-prize winning poet Paul Muldoon with a foreword by John Carter Cash. Illustrated with facsimile reproductions of Cash’s own handwritten pages. Since his first recordings in 1955, Johnny Cash was an icon in the music world. In this collection of poems and song lyrics that have never been published before, we see the world through his eyes and view his reflection on his own interior reality, his frailties and his strengths alike. In his hallmark voice, he pens verses about love, pain, freedom, and mortality, and expresses insights on culture, his family, his fame, even Christmas. Forever Words confirms Johnny Cash as a brilliant and singular American literary figure. His music is a part of our collective history, and here the depth of his artistry and talent become even more evident.”

There is a great debate over whether or not songs are literature. Indeed, songs are not simply poems set to music, and poems are certainly not songs without music. What you are struck with when you read these works left behind by Mr. Cash is that they are not discarded songs, they are straight up poems. It turns out the great man was as good a poet as he was a songwriter, and that is pretty darned good.